Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Don't Fear Blue Oyster Cult

I spent a good portion of last night listening to Blue Oyster Cult. I've been listening to them with great enthusiasm since I first heard "Don't Fear The Reaper" almost 35 years ago, and still, I couldn't begin to tell you just what kind of band they are.

The All Music Guide calls them a "thinking man's heavy metal group," and only because of my inability to come up with something better, do I accept it. But, if you judge a book by its cover, or in BOC's case, the obvious representation (read: the hits), you might just miss out on what else this amazing band has offered since their first Columbia release almost 40 years ago. (Most of it really isn't heavy metal at all...and anyway, I really like the hits.)

You may know "Godzilla," from their best selling 1977 release "Spectres." But have you heard the big, pop perfection of their Phil Spector homage "Goin' Through The Motions" from that same album? Or, the beautifully ominous melody and harmonies of the ballad, "I Love The Night" from that same album? Or, the almost power pop feel of "Fireworks," from that same album? Yeah, "Spectres" is a big time winner.

While I'm at it, have you ever heard the haunting, mini-epic "Morning Final" from "Agents Of Fortune?" Quite stunning. Or, the 60's rock and roll pastiche "True Confessions" from that same album? And then there is "Tenderloin" from that same album. Words fail me with "Tenderloin." Yeah, "Agents Of Fortune" is a big time winner.

The point is, each of their releases from the 1972 debut through 1981's "Fire Of Unknown Origin" boasts more than just big ball riffage suited for MTV and smoked-filled hockey barns. These guys could not only write the guitar hooks that teenage boys with sad moustaches would die for, they could also write the melodies that every pop nerd with a crush on Ronnie Spector would plotz over.

Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier, Joe & Albert Bouchard, and one of the most underrated guitar players of all time, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, as Blue Oyster Cult, had an impressive run from 1972-1982. The MTV hits? Yeah, that's good stuff. But, the great stuff is living comfortably on 16 sides of the best rock and roll albums of the 70's.

The video above, "Astronomy," features one of my favorite guitar solos of all time.

The song below, "You're Not The One," from 1979's follow-up to "Spectres," "Mirrors," is a brilliant nod to The Cars.

14 comments:

I didn't know you cared. With Eric Bloom being related to Howard Stern, I thought that would be a deal breaker.

When Agents of Fortune came out, it originally sounded like a radio sell-out. But, it was much deeper than that, though not as moving as some of their earlier work. As you point out their big problem was 'who are they?'. It was hard to compare them, and as most radio stations and music magazines do, they were trying to pigeonhole them into one genre, which didn't work.

As with most bands, I believe their earlier work represented them the best. Songs like 'Cities on Flame', 'Then Came The Last Days of May', and the untouchable, 'Seven Screaming Diz-Busters'. What the hell is a Diz-Buster anyway? I still play that song twice in a row, when it pops up on shuffle mode in my iTunes.

They also put on a good live performance. I caught them a few times, with their best being a show where they co-headlined with Rush. That was worth the trip to Nassau Col. in a snow storm.

BOC and Rush are completely linked for me, just because my High School Buddies and I used to listen to both incessantly in the mid-late 80's.

I still remember getting a friend's dad to get us all into a bar to see BOC. They tore into "Godzilla," and I swear to God, we, four 17-year-old snotnose kids, were the only people screaming along.

Great Band...and I'll agree...Meanstreets has probably never listened to a note. Open your mind.

I'll second the weekend mix idea. The only painful thing about BOC is I own painfully little of the catalog. I know it's because I overdosed on them before college, and when money was tight...out they went.

Bought their debut with a few demos in a Walgreen's for like, 4 dollars last year. The song titles alone are worth the price. "Red and the Black" is one of my personal faves from them. As for radio sell-outs, we could do much, much worse than, "Burnin' for you." in fact, we usually do. The bonus for seeing them live, is that they plug their personal favorite establishments, like Costello's House of Music, in Staten Island. I think Ritchie Costello was playing base for them at the time. It doesn't get any more down home than that.

I agree, totally. And a BOC weekend mix would make my weekend, as well as most of the following week...

A BOC story: About 5 yrs ago I got bumped up to 1st class on a flight out of Billings, MT. I started talking to the guy next to me and I thought he said something about seeing BOC play. After inserting my foot in my mouth, I asked "Are those guys still together?" He said, "We're all here, just got done with a show last night" and motioned to the guys beside and behind us. Introduced himself as Donald Roeser and added, sensing any lack of awareness, "I'm better known by my stage name, Buck Dharma". I apologized for my transgression and then went on to tell him that I thought I had read that he was playing guitar for Shirley Manson and Garbage. "No. Might have been a good career move but I still love playing with these guys. It's a little different than when we had our own (gesturing towards the aircraft) to get around with, but it's still fun." Despite my initial fumbles, he was a very nice and unassuming man to visit with. I remain a fan.

Spot on....amazing band....in no small part because they were never afraid to be imperfect...they rock seamlessly somewhere between that really good garage band that practices two doors down to corporate-smooth...always smart and sometimes downright wacky...more than sometimes actually..."Hungry Boys" my personal guilty pleasure...homage to drugging with the boys....

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